Strawberry and White
by The Pen and Crow
Summary: After the exploits in the Soul Society, Kurosaki Ichigo comes home thinking he was done fighting. Little did he know that he was going to fight a new battle, a battle for his soul. Updates every thursday.
1. Man of White

Original Story by: Tite Kubo

I DO NOT OWN BLEACH

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_After his exploits in the Soul Society, Kurosaki Ichigo comes home._

Ichigo walked into his small room at midnight exhausted. He lies down on his comfortable bed and shut his eyes. His fatigue came from the fight with Byakuya in the Soul Society when it came down to that final blow to determine the outcome. With a yawn, he scratched his head and felt a small piece of clay fall out of his bright orange hair. He made a note of it but didn't think much of the bone white piece of clay. He once again shut his eyes and fell into a world of Black.

When Ichigo opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange yet familiar world. Bright blue sky with large clouds racing above his head, Skyscrapers like the one he was standing on lined up laying horizontal. Glass windows reflected the sky and Ichigo, who was wearing the black robes of a Shinigami's uniform with his zanpakuto sheathed in bandages on his back. He knew this place that was his inner mind where he discovered his zanpakuto Zangetsu and received his shinigami powers to save Rukia.

"Congrats kid, on attaining Bankai," said a shadowy voice that came from behind Ichigo. The voice came from a man who looked exactly like Ichigo except his entire body was ghost white including his hair; the only part that wasn't white were his eyes.

The white were black and the pupil was golden. These eyes stared straight into Ichigo's brown eyes.

"I gotta say that will make a fine addition to the power I'm going to have when I take over your soul." He said finishing with a sinister laugh that had a shrill that made the hair on the back of Ichigo's neck stand up. He knew exactly who this man was and was ready to fight him since what happened in the Soul Society against Byakuya. Ichigo looked at his hollow version of himself intently and stepped forward with his zanpakuto drawn.

"Take over my soul huh," he said, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword.

"Well you're going to have to take it."

The hollow laughed again with the same shrill and stuck his hand out to the side as a white version of Ichigo's zanpakuto crashed through the window below, hilt up, into the hollow's hand.

Ichigo's Zanpakuto felt heavier than usually, so heavy that he could barely hold it. Damn, the fight with Byakuya. He was still fatigued from that fight which would probably be why the hollow chose to attack now. One attack, one attack had to count.

Ichigo raised the giant blade as high as he could. Smiling, the hollow did the same.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" The both cried in unison as an arc of blue condensed spiritual energy shot from Ichigo's zanpakuto and an arc or red from the hollows. Quickly the red sliced through the blue and inflicted its wound on Ichigo across the chest. Dropping his zanpakuto, Ichigo fell to the glass ground on his hands and knees. He couldn't move his body just like before in the soul society; he reached his limit. The hollow came, picked up the Ichigo's zanpakuto with his off-hand, and looked at it with great greed in his expression.

"Don't you dare touch Zangetsu!" Ichigo was able to say before the hollow's white sandal connected with his face.

"Why not," he asked holding the blade at its wielder's throat "I'm the one that deserves it not some punk kid who thinks too much of himself!"

On that note, the hollow raised the blade above his head to deliver the finishing blow. The blade stopped mid-swing as a hand grabbed the blade and stopped it. Looking up, Ichigo saw the man who was his zanpakuto, old man Zangetsu, griping the blade and snatching it from the hollows white hands. Angry the hollow screamed "Getsuga Tenshou!" and unleashed another arc of red towards them.

The last thing Ichigo remembers before blacking out was Zangetsu grabbing him by the collar and throwing him off the side of the building. Falling back to darkness.

His eyes opened to find himself in the intersection of two streets surrounded by towering buildings. Above were the horizontal buildings blocking out most of the sky. It was silent and empty. The wound; Ichigo looked at the spot to where his wound was supposed to be to see that the only remains of it was the blood soiled on his robes.

Old man Zangetsu leaned against one of the buildings holding the giant blade that was Ichigo's zanpakuto.

"You and I need to talk." He said quietly to Ichigo stabbing the blade into the ground.

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Keep posted for chapter 2.


	2. Tensa Zangetsu

Tensa Zangetsu_  
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Original Story by: Tite Kubo

I DO NOT OWN BLEACH

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_When_ _we left Ichigo, he came home to relax after fighting in the Soul Society only to be sucked into a fight for his soul against his inner hollow. Weakened and wounded by the hollow, old man Zangetsu came and saved Ichigo from curtain death………_

"Good Morning Ichigo!!!" Kurosaki Isshin yelled as he dashed into his son's room to wake him up with a swift foot to the face. He looked around the room to see that it was clean and empty as usual when Ichigo was gone. The bed was unmade, which meant that he was here last night but left this morning. Looking around the room, Isshin found a small piece of clay on the floor beside the bed. It was bone white and had a trace of red paint on it like a hollows mask. _What have you gotten yourself into this time son? _Isshin thought tossing the piece of mask in the nearby garbage bin. A thundering roar sounded nearby followed by an enormous amount of spiritual pressure that felt like a hollow but at the same time very familiar. Ichigo; Isshin quickly fumbled a small pill out of his pocket and popped into his mouth. When he swallowed, his soul separated from the body that he lived in for so long never even once leaving into his shinigami form. "Too long" he said to himself, looking at the black robes of the uniform, "way too long."

He dove out the window above the bed and leaped from rooftop to rooftop following the spiritual pressure. He continued until he found the body of his son lying in an alleyway. Good at least his body was safe but what about his soul. Soon Isshin found out; he widened his eyes when he saw the source of the weird spiritual pressure. It was a hollow that seemed to be deformed with ghost white skin and long orange hair that touched the ground. The mask had similar markings to the piece that Isshin found in Ichigo's room. The hollow consumed the souls of all the nearby people walking by it, unaware of its existence. Although the hollow has mostly taken over his soul, Isshin could still faintly feel Ichigo inside trying to get out. He had to buy time until his son came back. With a heavy heart Isshin drew his zanpakuto the first time in years.

Zangetsu stood next to the Giant sword that he stabbed into the ground "You and I have to talk." He told to Ichigo. Old man Zangetsu wore dark glasses and black flowing robes. His hear was black that flowed the same way as his robes and always wore the same emotionless expression that Ichigo could never mistake. Rain began to pour down over them from the sky above. Soon a clash of thunder followed with a series of lightning that destroyed a horizontal building overhead of them. Glass and debris showered down about as fast as the raindrops. Ichigo dashed towards the nearest building for cover, trying not to get hit by the mixture of lightning and concrete that rained down from the sky. "As you can see, his influence is spreading over the place like a disease.", Said Zangetsu, appearing out of the darkness of the empty room that they both ended up taking shelter in.

In his right hand, he held the large zanpakuto. "Even now as we speak he is up on you world reeking havoc to the humans, probably to gather souls to stay strong." He said, leaning against the zanpakuto casually. Ichigo panicked, remembering getting taken over in Bankai fighting Byakuya.

"No." he declared, "I can't let that bring me down."

He clinched his fist tightly and said, "I'm can't let everyone I care for and love get hurt because of me." He said with passion in his heart and fire in his resolve. He was ready to do whatever it took to defeat the hollow and get back to his life for a time. "Ok then listen up and listen well, I'm not going to explain it again" Zangetsu said handing Ichigo the giant sword. "You and I are going to train your limit to how long you can use Bankai until your soul reaches its limit. In order to do that you and I must fight except for one major rule: no Bankai, just Shikai so that the hollow cannot detect us so we can train longer. The one thing to be aware of is that time here and time up there are two different things.

"But in order for you to train you limit you will have to reach your limit through Shikai."

"How the hell do I do that?"

"Very simple." Zangetsu said.

Soon, a thin long blade came from the old man's robe. It was pure black from hilt to blade and had a guard that was shaped as a Swastika above the hilt. Ichigo right away recognized it; Tensa Zangetsu, his Bankai.

"In order to push you to your limit, I must fight you with Tensa Zangetsu and push on until I can force you to break your limit. When that happens, you will be able to control Bankai for a lot longer than usual."

Ichigo thought of how crazy the idea of training at this time was but still did knowing that if he ignored the training, he would never win against the hollow. He nodded and readied himself for the barrage of attacks that were to come, "Hit me with all you got." He said ready to face his own power.


	3. Ultimate Getsuga Tenshou

Ultimate Getsuga Tenshou

Original Story: Tite Kubo

I DO NOT OWN BLEACH

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When we left off, Ichigo's father, Kurosaki Isshin, discovers Ichigo's fate and finds his hollow rampaging throughout Kurakura town. For the first time in years, he draws his zanpakuto and fights to buy his son time to escape. Meanwhile, Ichigo talks to Zangetsu and is offered training to become strong enough to overcome the hollow. In order to attain this strength he must face his Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu.

The hollow's claw tore into Isshin's shoulder with the efficiency of a blade. The ex-shinigami used shunpo to back out and regain his footing against the hollow that was his son. The spiritual pressure was starting to grow stronger and stronger with each passing second and Isshin knew why; the hollow was winning dominance over Ichigo. With a blood shattering roar, the deformed hollow stretched the mask's mouth open and shot a red beam that threw Isshin back through five tall buildings of the city's business district. The nearby people, who weren't crushed by the enormous spiritual pressure, screamed and ran from an invisible threat. So it had come down to this.

Isshin extended his zanpakuto "Forgive me son." He said with tears in his eyes he cried out:

"Ban-."

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It feels like he has been training for months now but he knew it only really been maybe a couple hours. Ichigo held the giant blade and tried to keep his eyes on Zangetsu but could barely see the speed and motion of Tensa Zangetsu.

"I got you!" he cried striking at the black figure. Zangetsu became a blur as he step aside and countered with a stab through the ribs. Ichigo coughed blood and backed away allowing his wound to heal. Doe to the amount of power that Zangetsu has put into this training, fatal blow such as this one would heal however the pain would still be there. Ichigo gasped, feeling his limit to be close but it didn't matter. He would reach this limit only to be revived with the fatigue but the ability to move and fight. Only now did Ichigo truly realize how amazing Tensa Zangetsu is; the speed, the power, the motion, and the very look of the blade. If he couldn't attack him with a strike of his blade, he would have to attack everywhere around him as well.

He held his blade up and swung it to the ground "Getsuga Tenshou!" he cried shooting out the blue arc to destroy his foe.

Zangetsu cut through the arc of spiritual energy down the middle, splitting the arc in two. "Is this really the extent of what you can do," Zangetsu asked now behind Ichigo with the black blade to his neck. Ichigo whirled around and swung in across his chest only to miss and get hit with a black and white wave of spiritual energy that would have destroyed him if Zangetsu didn't hold his power back. "You should be able to defeat this attack, you should be able to destroy this building, and you should be able to destroy me. But however you cannot even lay a hit on me and we have been training for a long time. Do you really care about what happens if you lose this battle? Do you really want him to use you as a tool to kill everyone around you? Because it seems to me that you don't even care if your blade is used to destroy those you love." He said gathering more power for another attack.

The words hit Ichigo hard and now he felt a fire deep within the pit of his gut. A fire that burned inside his soul. With all his anger, his might, his resolve, and his power he swung and released that fire "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" he roared releasing a tidal wave of his blue spiritual energy to combat the black and white that approached him. The attack broke through and caused a massive explosion that destroyed the entire half of the building. "Well done Ichigo," Said Zangetsu, appearing from the shadows. He put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder and for the first time ever, he smiled, "never forget that feeling, it is the one thing that separates you from him; the power to protect."

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The hollow stood at the top of the city of the boy's mind and saw the explosion in the distance. How fun it's going to be to attain the kid's power. White held up his white Zangetsu and watched it dissipate in the rain. "Now the time has come, to become the strongest there is but I have to kill the one who rivals me. Kurosaki Ichigo." He said then laughed that shrill laugh that echoed across the city in Ichigo's mind. It began to rain red.


	4. The Protector and Destroyer

Sorry that it took so long for me to write the 4th chapter of Strawberry and White. Anyway next chapter is the last in the series I can promise you that I won't be as long with the conclusion of this series as I was this chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter4

The Protector and Destroyer

_In the last chapter, Ichigo trained long and against Tensa Zangetsu and learned how to produce the Ultimate Getsuga Tenshou. Afterwards White saw engulfed the city in a rain of red._

Red rain poured around Ichigo from the darkened sky. The entire city in his mind was torn and broken in ruins. Debris littered the streets, lightning shot across the sky, and clouds were as black as iron. A patch of sunlight poured down in the distance; that's where he had to go, that was the way out. Zangetsu was no longer around, he was left alone in the dark streets. The clouds above began to close around the beam of light. He was running out of time. Ichigo dashed down the street to the only source of light left in the city. He ran and ran and ran until a white hand from a puddle grabbed his ankle and tripped him. More hands emerged from the puddles around him, pinning him down to the ground so he couldn't move.

"The old man did a good job in hiding you." the familiar voice of the white copy of Ichigo said. White emerged from an alley way with the white Zangetsu sword in hand.

"It's a shame you had to fall for such a easy trap; I would have loved it if you had struggled, would have made the whole experience of killing you more enjoyable."

White said as he drew nearer.

Ichigo struggled to brake loose of the white hands' grip, but to no avail.

"I'm not very good at doing this but it's worth a shot." He said.

Ichigo began to focus his spiritual energy to his arms and pulled with all of his strength. Soon the hands gave way and he broke free. He drew his blade and charged at White full force. The clash of the giant blades rang out across the city. They matched each other move for move keeping at pace with one another. The light, I need to get to the light. He shadow stepped away from White and sprinted towards the light. Before he could reach it, a flash of red shot in front of him and White stood there blocking the way.

"You're going to have to get through me if you want to get out of here," He said with a grin on his face, "and truth be told, I'm having the time of my life."

White held his blade up. _Never forget that feeling._ Smiling, Ichigo held his up as well.

"GETSUGA TENSHOU!" the both cried releasing waves of blue and red spiritual energy. The waves clashed and fought until finally the blue wave of energy overpowered the red and engulfed the hollow. When the smoke was clear, White was gone; nothing remained. It was over, he was destroyed. Exhausted, Ichigo began to walk toward the light.

"It's not over yet…." White was behind him now with blood dripping from his head down. He wiped the blood of his face and looked at in his hand. He laughed loud that same shrill laugh he always did that overpowered the thunder.

"This is gonna be fun, Kurosaki Ichigo!"

He quickly charged Ichigo and swung his blade only to be blocked by a large pure black blade.

Old man Zangetsu was in front of Ichigo blocking the attack.

"Quickly you don't have much time, the way out is almost shut," he said struggling to hold the hollow "hurry I'll hold him off!"

Now understanding, Ichigo nodded and ran to the light "NO!" the hollow broke away and ran after Ichigo with murder in his black eyes. Seeing this opening Zangetsu shot a wave of black spiritual energy and hit the hollow in the back, knocking him down.

They watched as Ichigo flew up through the sunlight into the sky.

"YOU BASTARD!" White roared as he got up.

"Now it's only you and I." Zangetsu said readying his blade for the tough fight ahead.


	5. Black and White

**Strawberry and White : Black and White**

**Original Story by: Tite Kubo  
**

_yes after so long I have finally finished it. sorry for the long wait. enjoy the last chapter and review what you think please._

_also I typed it on Notepad which is why it looks so weird.  
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_Ichigo makes his narrow escape from the hollow within him while old man Zangetsu fights for Ichigo's escape. What is happening in Kurakura now?_

"Ban-" Isshin stopped himself quickly as the hollow that is his son collapsed on the city street. Cautiously the former shinigami approached the downed spirit. Its body cracked like the shell of an egg and blew into the wind like dust to reveal Ichigo unconscious on the ground.

Isshin sighed in relief that his son was okay. He heaved his sun over his left shoulder and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop home.

The buildings were being destroyed by swirling energies of black and red. Old man Zangetsu was on the offensive slamming the white blade that the hollow wielded.

"I'll make you pay for this you old fuck!" Cursed the white imposter.

He easily parried the next attack the old man threw and slammed is fist into face Zangetsu, throwing him back into a nearby building.

"I don't know how long your gonna resist old man, you know that this is pointless." He said dusting the blood off his fist. After a moment of silence a arc of black shot out of the building. White blocked it with his blade, struggling not to give and get torn to shreds by the condensed energy. Behind Zangetsu appeared and stabbed his blade through the back of the hollow. White's form changed into red water and splashed into the street.

"You still don't get it do ya?" Echoed his voice.

"I will never go away and you know it, or will you just not accept it?"

From the puddles around emerged several hundreds of thousands of white Ichigos that surrounded the old man. They all grabbed the old man and held him still while one stepped forward and stabbed into him with the large white zanpakuto.

The black robes that adorned Zangetsu began to slowly turn white.

" Now then, since I can't take over right away, I'll just become his power. I will become Zangetsu."

the hollow said with a sinister grin.

" And what if he is able to command your power?" Zangetsu asked looking into the black and gold spheres of the hollow's eyes.

In response he laughed

"If he does then I would have no problem serving one so strong to be able to command me. But as it stands he doe not deserve such power."

The white completely enveloped Zangetsu. His form then changed into another copy of the White Ichigo.

" I will not be the horse to such a weak king."


End file.
